Common Science

In the spring of 2012, I wrote a five-part series on water. In Part IV: When the Well Runs Dry, I explained the process by which salty ocean water can infiltrate subsurface, fresh water aquifers and the problems that creates. Over the last couple of weeks, I have encountered several stories about salt water infiltration in South Florida’s Biscayne Aquifer.

Lately I have noticed a growing trend to encourage people to pursue careers in STEM, an acronym which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I find this acronym, developed by the National Science Foundation in the 1990s, to be a bit clunky. My own personal definition of the word “science” has always been broad […]

The tantalizing possibility that life may exist on Mars has inspired both scientific exploration and popular culture for a long time. The question of whether we are alone in the universe has recently been reignited by some intriguing data from NASA’s Curiosity Rover, which has been trundling around Mars since 2012. Before we review that […]

My wife recently gave me a book titled Outlines of Industrial Chemistry that was published in 1909. It provides a fascinating look at the state of science, technology, the economy, and everyday life from 106 years ago. The book includes an extensive survey of the industrial topics of its day, including fuels, water purification, fertilizers, […]

Last week, in Part I of this series, I reviewed the major issues associated with drug-resistant bacteria and discussed the fascinating history of the discovery and uses of bacteriophages. Bacteriophages, viruses that infect and kill bacteria, were first identified approximately 100 years ago. This week in Part II, I will discuss how a discovery made […]

For this week’s column, I am going to presume some knowledge on the reader’s part regarding the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. If you are not familiar with this issue, let me recommend that you open a new browser window, do a Google search on “drug-resistant bacteria,” and then come back. If you are not […]

Last week, in Part I of this series, I told you the incredible story of the Arctic journey of the U.S.S. Jeannette in 1879. After their ship was trapped in the ice for 21 months and then sank, the crew dragged their food and supplies over a thousand miles of ice while stopping at some […]

If you read my columns, you will have noticed that I enjoy embracing my inner nerd. In that spirit, let me share with you that my favorite author is Hampton Sides, who writes history books. Mr. Sides recently published a new book, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the […]

In the spring of 2012, I wrote a five-part series on water (Part I, II, III, IV, V). Part IV, When the Well Runs Dry, discussed human society’s dependence on the unsustainable extraction of water from underground aquifers, with a particular focus on the Ogallala aquifer which supplies the vast majority of water used for […]

From the 1960s through the 1980s, my Aunt Shirley was a third grade teacher in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After she retired, she gave me a copy of one of the science text books that she had used. In the section about water on Earth, there was a sentence that said “all of the water on […]

January of 2014 brought record-setting cold temperatures to Chapel Hill, NC, and the words “polar vortex” dominated the local lexicon for several weeks. Given that we are likely to experience these dramatic cold snaps more and more frequently here in the Southern Part of Heaven, I thought a column reviewing the science of the polar […]

Over the holidays I did a fair bit of driving, including the abject drudgery of navigating Route 95 between Richmond and Washington, D.C. in both directions. At one point, it took two hours to advance just 40 miles. All of this time on the highway gave me ample opportunity to find things that annoyed me. […]

April 2015 will be the fourth anniversary for Common Science®. In each of the past three Decembers I have published a hyper-linked index for the columns from that year. This year I decided to do something different. Below is an index with links to all 185 columns I have published. I have some new ideas […]

In January, I made predictions for what I expected would be important science stories during 2014, five positive ones and four negative. Now it is time to see how well I did. Below I review my predictions, tell you what did or didn’t happen, and give myself a score on a scale of 1 to 5 […]

As you may have noticed at the pump recently, gasoline prices have fallen by 35% over the last few months, from just below $4.00 per gallon down to around $2.60, a five-year low. During this same time period, the price of petroleum, the raw material from which gasoline is made, has dropped from $110 to […]

Last week in Part I, I reviewed the energy balance for the human body and explained how it controls whether or not we lose weight while dieting. This week, I’ll share with you some my observations on how this energy balance applies to my own weight loss efforts. The weight loss industry in the United […]

Dieting is big business in the United States. If you include the $21 billion spent on diet sodas, the weight loss industry takes in over $65 billion dollars a year. A commonly cited statistic is that at any particular moment, one half of all adults in the U.S. are on a diet. In the interest […]

Several weeks ago, my daughter came home and said “Dad, why does Norway have to import trash to keep its power plants running? You should write a column on that.” And so I have. First, in the interest of full disclosure, I love Norway. I have been there both for business and pleasure and in […]

Last week’s column, Spinal Cord Miracle?, was an inspiring story about how scientific progress enabled a man whose spinal cord had been severed to walk again. This remarkable achievement came as a result of the expenditure of millions of dollars and decades of research. While writing that column, I was struck by the starkly contrasting […]

In 2010, 40 year old Bulgarian firefighter Darek Fidyka had his spinal cord severed at mid-chest level during a brutal knife attack. He was completely paralyzed below the wound and, despite intensive physical therapy, showed zero improvement in the two years following the attack. Then, as you will see, something miraculous happened. This story […]

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